ALBUM REVIEW: Zamāru Ultu Qereb Ziqquratu Part 1 – Wyatt E
WYATT E have been tickling the fringes of the doom scene for the best part of a decade now, with their mystical, middle-eastern tinged take on the genre gaining them critical acclaim and landing them extensive tours and slots at the likes of Roadburn, Desertfest and ArcTanGent. Having signed to Heavy Psych Sounds and with otherworldly metal albums like BLOOD INCANTATION’s Absolute Elsewhere and LOWEN’s Do Not Go To War With The Demons Of Mazandaran placing high in various Album of The Year Lists in 2024, now feels like the perfect time for the Belgian mystics to forge a serious breakthrough with new album Zamāru Ultu Qereb Ziqquratu Part 1.
Translating as ‘Music From Inside The Ziggurat’, the five tracks that make up this first chapter serve as an exploration of the world of ancient Babylon through the eyes of exiled captives from Jerusalem. Qaqqari La Tari Part 1 sets the tone for the rest of the album, beginning with an ominous, rhythmically throbbing single note that sounds like morse code beckoning across time and space to make contact with an ancient civilisation. Over the next ten minutes it develops as the band’s two drummers lay down a pulsating rhythmic foundation over which middle-eastern melodies and crushing doom riffs are repeated. At the song’s midpoint, a robotic voice begins chanting in the long extinct Akkadian language of ancient Mesopotamia, bringing a chilling sense of impending dread.
One of WYATT E’s recent endeavours was to compose and perform the soundtrack to Belgian crime thriller Bowling Saturne, and on Zamaru…, they’ve clearly leaned into the cinematic element of their songwriting. The whole thing fizzes with drama and tension and is presented in wide-screen, high definition. About The Culture Of Death (Kerretu Mahru), for example, with its death-march drums and skittish strings would be perfectly at home on an installment of the Dune franchise.
WYATT E’s previous two albums, 2017’s Exile To Beyn Neharot and 2022’s Al Beruti Daru, were comprised of two songs apiece, each track pushing the 20-minute mark, in hypnotic, meditative fashion. This time round, they’ve trimmed the fat and taken a much more concise approach, with only the album’s first and last tracks reaching 10 minutes, the rest averaging out at around four and half. Even the longer songs have much more going on, the and are structured in a way that they develop, twist and turn, rather than simply repeating a motif to the nth degree, as has been their wont in the past.
Up until now WYATT E have been a mostly instrumental band, the only vocals being presented in the form of haunting spoken word passages. This time round, however, they’ve recruited a couple of guest vocalists to add weight to the album’s narrative. On I’m Leya, prolific composer and vocalist Tomer Damsky delivers a breathtaking performance in Aramaic over a haunting backdrop of doom that conjures images of desert landscapes under a scorching sun.
On the gloriously titled The Diviner’s Prayer To The Gods Of The Night, Nina Saeidi from the aforementioned death-doom darlings LOWEN provides her signature wail in the stunningly emotive Tahir singing style, with lyrics again delivered in Akkadian. Fans of LOWEN will be used to hearing Saeidi sing over muscular riffs, but it’s refreshing to hear her what she can do when provided with a more ‘traditional’ foundation of acoustic guitars, tablas and sitar.
Chapter 1 of Zamāru Ultu Qereb Ziqquratu is brought to a close in epic fashion with the 11 minute long Ahanu erestum, its eerie intro bringing back the robotic voice from the opening track, which heralds a deliciously catchy stoner metal riff, before giving way to more traditional instrumentation, tribal rhythms complete with hand claps and spooky electronics. The heavy guitars are brought back for the final, cacophonous crescendo which eventually fades into haunting synths, and the ‘robot’ giving his final laments.
Although it is made clear this is part 1 of a two part set of albums, the 35 minute does leave it feeling somewhat incomplete once the final song draws to a close, like when your favourite show takes a mid-season break. There’s a lot to be said for leaving your audience wanting more, and it’s certainly a bold move to release this way, but it will undoubtedly be a much more rewarding listening experience once the two parts are made whole later in the year. Perhaps more could have been done to ensure each part can fully stand on its own as an album. For now, we have to wait until the thrilling conclusion to this scintillating epic.
Rating: 7/10
Zamāru Ultu Qereb Ziqquratu Part 1 is out now via Heavy Psych Sounds.
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